Programs Blog

Being at sea is not easy: steel must go through the fire before its hardened
and crewing the Robert C. Seamans is no different. Above you can see a
picture of the beautiful sea and a picture of me taken after a very
difficult 1900 to 0100 watch. The red lights are common at night to preserve
night vision. There is a saying I have heard on the boat which is “we’ll
sleep when we get home.” This is very true. A full night’s sleep is rare.
Today I got woken up for morning watch to find Rarotonga still in sight.
This is because we had to pick up packages from Rarotonga for the small
population of Palmerston Atoll on our next stop. The ship’s morale was low
as we loaded boxes from the small boat onto empty bunks in the ship all
while looking and wishing to step foot on Rarotonga. Our daily muster
quickly occupied our minds as we practiced emergency drills. In case of a
fire on board, my job is to make sure the ship’s two water hoses don’t get
tangled as they snake around the ship to the fire’s location. By this time,
we had finished all the science that had to be done offshore and the
packages were aboard so, as we did drills, Rarotonga faded out of view. Now
it’s just us, the ship, and the everlasting hope to enjoy a tropical beach.

I love you family, Mama, Dada, Tanner, Walker, Summer and any others family
readers. I can’t wait to hang out with all of you when I get back! Freja, I
love you so much! And I miss you! I hope work is going well and I’m excited
to play ‘It takes two’ when I get back.

Thank you all for reading!
Hunter Choudhry, A Watch, University of Washington